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Surgical Stainless Steel Cookware 304 vs 316

We, in an effort to try and distinguish ourselves from our competition are promoting the fact that we use 316 surgical stainless steel with Titanium, rather than 304 surgical stainless steel. In the chart below is a direct comparison between 304 and 316 surgical stainless steel.


304 316
Carbon 0.08% max. 0.08% max.
Chromium 18.0 to 20.0% 16.0 to 18.0%
Manganese 2.0% max. 2.0% max.
Silicon 1.0% max. 1.0% max.
Nickel 8.0 to 10.5% 10.0 to 14.0%
Molybdenum
2.0 to 3.0%
Tensile Strength (Ksi)  
84-185 84-185
Yield Strength (Ksi) 42-140 42-140

Summary of differences:

1. 304 may have a higher Chromium content than 316 but not necessarily.

2. 316 may have a higher Nickel content but not necessarily.

3. We do not use Molybdenum in our composition. We use Titanium.

What is 316 better for than 304? 316 is preferred over 304 for marine hardware where it is exposed to extreme harsh sea salt conditions 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It lasts longer than 304 in this application.

Anywhere where there is exposure to concentrated sodium chloride conditions 316 is preferred over 304. If you are going to put 1 cup of sodium chloride (table salt) in your cookware with 4 oz. of water on a daily basis you may benefit from using 316 over 304.

We have established over 500.000 clients over the last 45 years with 304-T surgical steel cookware and have now upgraded to 316T surgical stainless steel with Titanium.

Instead of Molybdenum our cookware uses Titanium as a hardening alloy. Titanium is about six times as expensive as stainless steel.

Originally designed to produce strong lightweight alloys for aerospace, the two most useful properties of the metal form are corrosion resistance and the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal. Stronger than steel but 45% lighter.

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